Wine Tour to Southern Italy: Campania’s amazing wines, South Italian cuisine and world-renowned mozzarella

— Welcome on a wine tour to southern Italy. We visit the exciting region of Campania where we get to know grapes like aglianico, falanghina, greco and piedirosso, and many others. This is where the best wines were made in the times of ancient Rome – Falerno, Greco, Faustiniano – and today they are at least as good! And did you know that the real mozzarella comes from the water buffalos in Campania?

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The next wine tour to Campania in southern Italy:

• Contact us!

This is a sample program, an example. Every wine and food tour that we organise is different and specially adapted for the season and the circumstances. Details in the program, e.g. which producers we visit, will be different each time.

• This tour is sometimes available on our scheduled wine and food tour program: “Our Tours > Scheduled Tours”, or
• It can be designed specifically for you as a custom made private wine tour.

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Northern and central Italy have long been given all the spotlight for Italian quality wines, but now we think it is time for southern Italy to finally get some well-earned attention. On this trip, starting from Rome, we will travel through Lazio and Campania, two regions rich in ancient culture, exciting gastronomy and very interesting wines.

Campania is one of Italy’s most innovative wine regions. From primarily local vine varieties they produce a large variety of wines, both red and white. The best red wine is the region’s only DOCG, Taurasi, made from the distinctive and personal grape aglianico. Not far behind you have Aglianico del Taburno, Capri Rosso, Campi Flegrei Rosso and many others. They also make superb white wines made from the falanghina grape, such as Falerno del Massico Bianco.

Grapes are grown both on the coast around Naples and Salerno and inland. Climate varies as does elevation which gives rise to major style differences.

During our days here we will concentrate mainly on the area around Benevento and Avellino, a bit inland. This is where the great quality wines are made today and this was where the quality revolution started 30 years ago. One of the pioneers, maybe the most important, was Antonio Mastroberardino, today the most famous producer in Campania.

Local gastronomy includes delights such as mozzarella di bufala and delicious tomatoes, ingredients that appear in many Italian dishes, pizza not least. We will take a closer look at the buffalo and the mozzarella production in one of our days here. We will certainly also get acquainted with the extra-strong espresso, the caffè napoletano. As if a regular Italian espresso was not strong enough…

We will have Benevento as a base, a nice city with about 60,000 inhabitants, known throughout Italy for Strega, the liqueur, and its nougat. And also for his incredibly well-preserved triumphal arch from Roman times.

We eat three gastronomic luxurious lunches at wine producers’. The evenings are free to explore Benevento and the many restaurants in this charming city.

The tour starts and ends in Rome.

The tour is led by one of BKWine’s own wine and travel expert guides.

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More travel information

Here are some useful pages and guides about this travel destination:

• Italy FAQ: tipping, restaurants, transport, shopping

Even more info

We have written a lot about the Campania and about wine touring in the region, what to do and what to expect.

Here you can find more about travelling in the Campania.

You can also find more information on the Campania wines on BKWine Magazine.

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Program – wine tour to Campania, southern Italy

This is a sample program, an example. Every wine and food tour that we organise is different and specially adapted for the season and the circumstances. Details in the program, e.g. which producers we visit, will be different each time.

Preliminary programme.

For more details, contact BKWine.

Program overview

• Day 1, Wednesday — Arrival to Rome
• Day 2, Thursday — around Benevento
• Day 3, Friday — Irpinia and Taurasi
• Day 4, Saturday — Irpinia and Taurasi
• Day 5, Sunday — Home Travel

Wednesday, day 1 — Arrival to Rome

We meet at the main central station in Rome at 4 PM in the afternoon. Exact venue will be announced later. From here we will take our bus south to the city of Benevento in Campania, a journey that takes us a couple of hours.

Early evening we check-in at our very comfortable four-star hotel near the centre of Benevento. Here we will stay for four nights.

You get settled in your room and then have a free evening to stretch your legs after the bus trip. There are plenty of restaurants Benevento and good shopping.

Our hotel is very central, just a few minutes’ walk from the wonderfully well-preserved Roman triumphal arch, which is the city’s pride, built by Emperor Trajanus.

Take a stroll along the narrow streets and find a small bar for an aperitif before dinner. There are plenty of cafés and restaurants, many with nice outdoor dining where you can enjoy watching all the well-dressed Italians.

Thursday / Day 2 — around Benevento

Today we will try many wines, but we will also get more familiar with one of Italy’s great gastronomic delights. Which is best enjoyed here, as fresh as possible.

In other words, we begin the day with an introduction to the art of making mozzarella from the fat milk from Campania’s water buffalo. Any volunteer who wants to pat the buffalo? Mozzarella can be made with cow’s milk or buffalo milk, but the “real” mozzarella always comes from the water buffalo.

After this visit, you will never want to have “cow” mozzarella again! The difference in taste is huge. Why and how the water buffalo came to Campania is pure speculation, nobody knows for sure. Was it perhaps thanks to Hannibal?

We will then visit wine producer Mustilli in Sant ‘Agathe dei Goti, where we will taste wines made from grapes such as falanghina, greco, aglianico and piedirosso. This beautiful vineyard was created in 1960 by Leonardo and Marili Mustilli.

After the visit, it is time for lunch at Mustilli. It will be a typical Italian lunch with antipasto, pasta, primo and dessert and, of course, matched with the wines of the house.

After lunch, we will visit Agricola Oconevini in Ponte, a very interesting winery. It has more than 100 years’ of history but is very dynamic and ambitious.

It is a family property with around 40 hectares of vineyards planted with the aglianico and greco grapes. Different types of soil and microclimates make it possible to produce several different types of wines.

Late afternoon we will return to the hotel. The evening is free for your own discoveries in Benevento.

Friday, day 3 – Irpinia and Taurasi

After breakfast, we head south, towards the city of Avellino and the area known locally as Irpinia. Here you can find some of Campania’s best wines.

We will also visit the small historic city of Taurasi. Around this small town is where Campania’s only DOCG is made, from the very interesting grape aglianico. We will taste Antonio Caggiano’s excellent wines made from aglianico and piedirosso and we will visit his impressive cellar.

We will also visit Feudi San Gregorio today, a very high-quality vineyard. Here we also enjoy a delicious lunch. Feudi San Gregorio maintains an outstanding quality of its wines, not least its Taurasi. It is a modern facility with the latest technology and also many new French oak barrels.

At Feudi San Gregorio’s exclusive star-awarded restaurant Ristorante Marennà, we can judge for ourselves how well the wines pair with the local cuisine. The food here is extremely impressive. The restaurant has a star in the Michelin Guide. It is a blend of modern and traditional. Everything is delicious, elegant and of the best quality.

Late afternoon we are back in Benevento. Free evening.

Saturday, day 4 – Irpinia and Taurasi

Today we continue to explore Irpinia and we will learn, among other things, more about Greco di Tufo, a DOCG made from the grape of the same name. This grape has a rich past. It is already mentioned in an inscription in nearby Pompeii.

The morning visit will be with Luigi Tecce, at his winery, which is high up in the mountains. The soil is rocky limestone with volcanic elements, which is everywhere in Campania.

Luigi is an “anarchist” who makes wine entirely on his own terms. He has been experimenting, for example, with ageing in amphorae.

And then something completely different!

We have lunch at Mastroberardino’s beautiful and luxurious Radici Resort. From the restaurant, you have a wide view of the vineyards and the lush hills.

Mastroberardino is Campania’s most famous wine producer and one of the quality pioneers in southern Italy. Great Taurasi, Greco di Tufo and Fiano di Avellino.

The afternoon visit will be to Azienda Contrade di Taurasi di Enza Lonardi. It is a small family-owned vineyard with five acres but with great ambitions. They began to bottle their own wine in 1998; before that, they were selling the grapes to the cooperative.

They aim to do quite traditional aglianico wines (as opposed to many who make a modern style). Not too much new oak and quite long skin maceration give a nice grape character with a lot of personality. And good ageing potential.

Late afternoon we are back in Benevento.

Free evening. A short walk from the hotel is the old town centre. Two wide pedestrian streets, lined with shops, cafes and restaurants, connect the city’s most important buildings: the triumphal arch, the town hall and the cathedral. In the evening, they are filled with people taking a stroll before dinner.

Sunday, day 5 – Heading back home

After an early breakfast, we go back to Rome and we will drop you off at the Central Station at 11 AM.

The program may be subject to modifications.

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Tour Details — Wine tour to Campania in Southern Italy

Dates: This is a sample program. Look in the menu “Our Tours > Scheduled Tours” to check what scheduled tours are currently on the program or contact us to discuss a custom made private wine tour.

Price per person: This is a sample program. Look in the menu “Our Tours > Scheduled Tours” to check what scheduled tours are currently on the program or contact us to discuss a custom made private wine tour.

Included in the price:

• 4 hotel nights, double occupancy, including breakfast
  • Very comfortable four-star hotel in Benevento
• Meals as described in the program above (*):
  • 2 gastronomic Italian multi-course lunches with local specialities, including wines, as guest at wineries
  • 1 gastronomic multi-course lunch at Michelin star restaurant, including multiple wines
• Start and end point: Rome
• Bus transport during the whole trip
• All vineyard and winery visits
• Private, high quality tastings at wineries, approx. 3 per day
• Translation to English as needed. Most visits will be in English.
• Wine guiding and wine tutoring by an expert BKWine guide

(*) See below for more important information on our meals.

Not included:

• Travel (flights) to the destination and back from your home location.

You organise your travel to Rome yourself. If you want assistance with organising your flight tickets etc, please contact us.

We warmly recommend that you plan a few extra days here if you have the time! It is a very interesting place and well worth some “non-wine” tourism too! We can assist you with booking additional hotel nights if you want.

For this trip to take place we must have a minimum of 4 participants registered at the “book before” date. Maximum number of travel guests: 8.